Twilight let out a slow sigh, then forced herself to her full height, her smile equally as forced. "Welcome!" She was looking at Sunburst. "Welcome... I don't know what Starlight... Is that yours?" She pointed at the collection, just for her hoof to fall.
"The Seven Lost Fauna of Sallyworth?" She rushed up to the cart, eyes on the book. "That's very rare! The only pony I knew that had one of those was--"
"It's me," squeaked out Sunburst. "Hi..."
Twilight whirled on Sunburst. "It's... How? What?" She closed with her transformed friend. "You..." She reached up to run a hoof through Sunburst's mane. "Wow... Are you... okay? Did you come for assistance with a curse?! You know I'd be glad to help."
"I broke the curse..." Sunburst sank to their haunches. "That's what did this."
Twilight rubbed her cheek a moment, eyes wandering over Sunburst's curious form. "I... see? I don't see. Please explain this, Sunburst. Let's start with this, are you alright?"
Starlight slid in front of Sunburst. "She's fine. Perfectly fine, and she even has a special somepony now."
Twilight took a step back as Starlight shoved in. "Oh? Um, congratulations? Is it alright if I admit... I didn't see that coming either?"
Sunburst went to their things, hiding their face conveniently behind a pile of boxes.
Starlight lashed her tail. "Twilight, they're mine." She tapped her chest. "And I brought them here to live, with me."
"Without asking me." Twilight tapped Starlight on the chest. "Still quite inappropriate, even if I do know the pony you're inviting."
"Sorry..." Starlight danced nervously a moment. "It was me moving to the Crystal Empire or she came here! This is a way better option."
Twilight booped Starlight on her nose. "And you could have sent me a message of warning. That's all It'd take. I wouldn't say no to Sunburst."
"Then no problem!" Starlight started to march past, just to glow with Twilight's magic, stopped. "Right?"
"No." Twilight pulled Starlight back in front of herself. "You got in a spot and acted impulsively, again." She huffed lightly. "That is a habit we need to work on, yesterday." She turned her head sharply to Sunburst. "Go ahead and settle in. Spike! Please show Sunburst to Starlight's room. We'll be busy." She got to tugging Starlight away for a friendship lesson, asked for or not.
Spike grimaced sympathetically as he emerged, watching his flustered friend get towed off by the ear for another of Twilight's infamous intensive crash course corrections.
"Yikes, special someponie's moving in overnight kinda pushes her buttons, but don't sweat it!" He waved for the wilting newcomer to follow. "Gotta warn ya though Starlight's room is kinda...chaotically colorful. Do you like kites?"
Sunburst managed a tremulous chuckle picturing the space soon to be theirs. "If its occupant reflects any decor sensibility, I wholly expect assaulted senses on all fronts!" Quieter she added: "I wonder what tomes she's collected."
Mounting crystal stairs, she bit her lip anxiously realizing this palace poised to become her full-time home, without the years of familiarity that her old home had anchored her so comfortably within crystalline walls back home. Far fewer friendships braced to steady her steps here if stumbling over change's uneven terrain. At least one precious pony paved the path ahead though whatever this new kingdom held...
"Here we go - cue potential sensory overload!" Spike swung an ornate door open as Sunburst inhaled deeply.
Sunburst pressed in, blinking. "Were you playing a joke?" The room was... normal. There were a few kites tucked away. There was a poster of a butterfly, and a bed. It was a perfectly normal room. "Where are the colors?"
"What? Plenty of colors." He snickered softly, grabbing Sunburst's stuff to draw the cart into the room. "Let's get you settled in."
Sunburst huffed. "Not a nice joke..." Still, she got to work with Spike getting her things out of the cart and tucked away.
Spike had to bring a new bookcase, but that wasn't something they were short on in the castle, so they were able to get everything put away fairly quickly. He clapped his hands with a smug smile. "They call me the #1 assistant for a reason. Everything put away. I'll take this." He grabbed the bar of the cart and wheeled it out. "By the way."
"Hm?" Sunburst turned as Spike walked past. "What?"
"What's it like?" Spike leaned against the cart. "Being a mare that is? You weren't before, which makes you the best pony around to ask."
Sunburst blinked at that. "Why not... ask Twilight? She's been one far longer than I have."
"Which is the problem." He fired a fingergun at Sunburst. "She has no idea what being a guy is like. What can she compare it to? Being a mare is just being, for her."
Sunburst managed an awkward chuckle rubbing her neck at the blunt curiosity. Heck she was still getting used to this whole gender swap shakeup herself! Hard to neatly summarize stuff even you can barely wrap your brain around personally when it clashes with norms. But Spike sure seemed to be trying his best to take her shifted identity in stride however foreign it clearly still struck him. She could appreciate attempts to hear her out and understand better for sure.
"Well dang, you got me there - anypony in my horseshoes is definitely still figuring out how to even explain differences distinctly..." She shrugged, offering the waiting dragon a wistful smile. "Always kinda felt I walked between stallion and mare trails internally I guess? Though kept caged up 'til random chance recently cracked that seal...Now I'm just embracing both in all sorts of awkward glory."
Spike nodded along earnestly though she suspected subtle stuff still slipped his grasping. But she gave him props for making space and listening. "Hey, however your new form settles is awesome! I got your back, Sunny! Now c'mon - let's go make sure your impulsive squeeze hasn't spun herself up into knots for Twilight to untangle...again!"
He fired two fingerguns. "But, seriously. I'm not asking how you're sorting 'you' out. I mean physically. You were one, now you're something else. That's gotta feel different, right?" He reached out an arm. "I know what a dragon is, but it's all I know, so that isn't changing, oh, except these." He spread his wings out. "These are new, so I can definately tell you what wings are like."
"Physically ya mean?" Sunburst echoed. "Well shoot, you got me there kiddo - things got...a good bit different downstairs plumbing-wise once my rare condition stretched hooves back out."
"Right, that!" Spike brightened. "That's what I'm asking. You're being evasive..."
"You're still a kid, Spike." Sunburst rubbed at their cheek. "Not sure what I can tell you without Twilight getting angry at me."
"Boo." Still, he rolled the cart away, abandoning grilling Sunburst on the topic.
Sunburst turned slowly in place in the room. "Huh..." It was a new room. A single room, but more spacious in many ways than her old home, which had been narrow, tucked between two buildings.
She had a whole castle to roam. When she felt up to that. She hopped, coming down with a flop on Starlight's bed. She colored, realizing where she was sprawled. "Don't be mad..." She didn't get off, instead rolling onto her back. A scent teased at her.
It was Starlight. Her scent of her space. Sunburst was still a moment, just soaking in that a moment. "I like it." She decided that was good. It'd be awkward to have a special somepony she didn't like being around.
A knock came from the door. "Sun?" Twilight poked her head in, just to start, seeing Sunburst sprawled on the bed. "Excuse me!" She yanked her head free. "I didn't mean to interrupt anything!"
Sunburst sat up, chuckling. "Twilight, I was just relaxing." She slid to the floor, shaking herself out. "Everything alright?"
"Everything is fine." Twilight dared to enter anew. "I came to check on you. That was a stormy welcome, but I wanted to be sure you knew none of that was directed at you." She raised a brow suddenly. "Unless this was your idea?"
"N-no! I thought I'd get a home of my own, but Starlight insisted we could live in the castle." Sunburst rubbed one leg with a nervous hoof. "I hope we're not in the way."
Starlight nosed nervously into the room again just catching her name from Twilight's lips. She couldn't seem to stop reflexively hovering wherever her friend suddenly wound up. "There you are."
Twilight gave her former pupil a sympathetic glance. She could easily read nerves under all the bluster. She touched each friend gently, nodding in reassurance. "Whatever happens between you next, please know I support your happiness most as priority." Pausing at the door she continued kindly. "We'll figure us all out better soon, I promise."
With that she took her leave again, smiling faintly hearing them already buzzing with chatter and questions in her wake.
Starlight reared up just to flop atop Sunburst. "Welcome to my room," she sang out. "Like it? I see you got your stuff in here, good good."
"Good, yeah." Sunburst turned to face her, causing her to slip to her own hooves, which was good for hugging. Sunburst took Starlight into a gentle embrace. "I'm sorry you got in trouble."
"Oh, wow, no." Starlight nuzzled into Sunburst's neck. "I brought that on myself. You owe no apologies, silly thing." She hopped back. "But you're here, with me." She giggled breathlessly. "I can't even wait to introduce you to everypony." She paused. "Actually, you know them. You get along with them! This'll be great."
Sunburst considered. "Trixie?" Starlight nodded. "Maud?" Starlight nodded harder. "Last time we did get along well." Sunburst colored faintly. "Too well... I remember you getting a bit jealous."
"Jealous? Me?!" Starlight curled both hooves at herself. "I would never!" She laughed in denial. "Okay... Maybe a little... Look, you can hang out with them, but you sleep here, with me." She nodded firmly at the boundaries set. "You're mine, and I'm yours."
Sunburst touched her nose to Starlight's cheek. "You sound nervous about that. I'm not going anywhere." She colored faintly. "And I'm not... interested in any of 'that' with any... other ponies."
She snorted softly. "Besides... Trixie seems like a genuinely unwise partner. Maud is taken. Neither presents much of a risk if you think about it."
Starlight let out a wheeze of a breath. "Of course, you're right... Of course... But logic and emotions." She weighed the two concepts on wobbling hooves. "They're not the same thing. I'm not trying to rain on your parade. I'm just... nervous is all... I just got my Sunny."
She fell against Sunburst. "I don't want to lose her."
Sunburst rubbed the side of their body against Starlight's. "I don't plan to go anywhere. How can I help make you feel a little better?"
"Sit with me?"
"I can do that." She hugged Starlight closer and the room being quiet, the two gently breathing and hugging. For that moment, there was nothing else, and that was fine.
Starlight took a trembling breath, sitting up. "I needed that... So... Seriously, welcome." She waved over the room. "It's not my room anymore."
"It isn't?" Sunburst looked around for what had gone wrong.
"Obviously not." Starlight nudged Sunburst at the shoulder. "It's our room now." She hopped to her hooves. "Let's be good roomies."
Sunburst chuckled as he got the joke, rising to his own hooves. "Good roomies, of course. Do you have a mirror?"
Starlight blinked at that. "Actually, no, but there are plenty." She pointed out of the room. "There's a restroom right there, mirror included. That's the one I usually use."
Sunburst leaned past Starlight to see the door. "Ah! Thanks." He smooched Starlight on the cheek. "It's good to be home."
"It's... good." She sniffed, fighting a tear. "Come here, you!" She tackled Sunburst to the ground, her magic slapping the door shut. Some celebrations weren't for company.